Trump confirms 'major combat operations' as US and Israel launch military strikes on Iran

Donald Trump has announced that the US and Israel have started 'major combat operations' in Iran after explosions were heard in multiple cities across the country.

Israel's defence minister said they had launched a 'pre-emptive attack' against Iran, with their stated goal being to 'remove threats against the State of Israel'.

Trump then posted a video to his platform Truth Social confirming US involvement after a significant build-up of American forces in the area in recent weeks.

He called the attacks 'major combat operations' and declared 'we are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground'.

He also claimed that the US 'sought repeatedly to make a deal' with Iran without success, but now their missile industry would be 'obliterated' with the strikes.

Israel and the US have launched strikes on Iran (Getty Images)

Earlier this week the countries had been in indirect talks over Iran's nuclear programme, with Trump saying if things didn't go well the US had the capability to react 'with speed and violence, if necessary'.

When the US president was asked whether more strikes against Iran might lead to a lengthy conflict in the Middle East he said there was 'always a risk'.

In his video about the attack on Iran, Trump said US forces were 'undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests'.

He also said that there may be loss of life for US personnel, saying: "The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties. That often happens in war. But we're doing this not for now. We're doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission."

Iran has said explosions had been heard in their capital of Tehran along with the cities of Karaj, Qom, Kermanshah and Isfahan.

Trump said the US would 'obliterate' Iran's missile production, and that there was 'always a risk' of it turning into a longer conflict in the Middle East (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The Israel Defence Force has since announced that Iran has retaliated for the strikes by launching missiles at Israel, which they have said they are intercepting.

It is the second time in less than 12 months that the US has struck Iran.

In June last year when Israel launched a surprise attack on Iranian nuclear facilities and figures in their military and political structures, resulting in a series of retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Coming to be known as the '12 Day War', the US joined in on the strikes on Iran with the country retaliating by striking an American base in Qatar, a ceasefire followed shortly afterwards.

Since then there has been a significant build-up of US forces in the region and Iran itself has experienced significant protests against its regime which resulted in thousands of demonstrators being killed by government forces.